About Greenpeace

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation, which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force the solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.

Greenpeace's goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity.

Values of Greenpeace Japan

1) Innovation
By working with people from all sectors of society, Greenpeace Japan inspires original, creative confrontation that leads to a brighter, more visionary future for people and our planet.

2) Transparency
We pledge to live our values - to listen to the concerns of others, to be open to criticism and to opportunities to learn and grow, and to communicate with others in an open and transparent way.

3) Independence
Greenpeace is an independent organization that is free from political, financial stake or profit, and we are therefore free to pursue our vision and stand with those who – like us - want to act in the best interest of the Earth.

4) Science and Solutions
Greenpeace respects and utilizes the best-available science in order to achieve our vision, and to develop solutions to environmental and economic problems that threaten the health of the planet.

5) Diversity
We celebrate diversity in all its forms, whether it be the rich, interconnected web of plant and animal life, or the vibrancy of different cultures, languages and views of people.

6) Goal-oriented
Our ambition to achieve transformative change is driven by our understanding that our planet’s condition is critical. We commit to take bold and brave action - we won’t give up, we will try new ways, until we achieve the change we seek.

7) People power
Greenpeace is a movement powered by the passion, dedication and creativity of staff, volunteers, allies and society: we achieve positive change through acting together.

8) Global
The environment has no borders, and neither does Greenpeace. We will confront and challenge global problems wherever they occur, and collaborate with all citizens of the world to create lasting solutions.

9) Professionalism
As Greenpeace staff, we will hold ourselves to a high ethical standard, and every one of us will put forth our best effort to achieve a green and peaceful future. These standards and values must – and will - be reflected in how we communicate, interact with and respect everyone we encounter.

About Energy Revolution Japan

Greenpeace Japan, with the support of thousands of citizens from across the country, is working to create a 100% renewable energy future. And that means that we’re not only helping to expand renewables, but also that we’re challenging the dirty energy fossil and nuclear industries.

The 2011 beginning of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe was a major wake-up call for Japan: having old, dangerous, dirty nukes in a country sitting on the Pacific Ring of Fire is already recipe for disaster, but the risks skyrocket when your nuclear regulator is also in bed with pro-nuclear politicians and the industry itself. And while the earthquake and ensuing tsunami that sparked the nuclear crisis were natural disasters, the Japanese government’s review panel concluded that the nuclear catastrophe was, in fact, man-made.

In short, problems with the reactor design and quality control were ignored. The warnings of scientists regarding the vulnerabilities of the nuclear power plant to natural disasters were unheeded. The nuclear industry-captured regulator, embedded within a pro-nuclear government, repeatedly failed to act, putting industry interests before public safety.

After the nuclear crisis began, the Japanese nuclear fleet was progressively taken offline – some by mandate, some for maintenance outages. Two restarted for a short period and then were shut down again. For nearly two years after that, none were able to restart, regardless of the initial reason for shutting down, largely due to significant public and local political opposition to nuclear restarts.

The old regulator – the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) – was replaced by a new, supposedly independent regulator: the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA). Unfortunately, the NRA is repeating history – ignoring significant unresolved safety risks and caving to industry pressure – rather than putting public safety first.

And that puts the lives of millions of people living in the shadow of reactors throughout Japan at significant and unacceptable risk.

Yet, despite massive pressure from the pro-nuclear central government and powerful utilities, as well as a weak, captured regulator that caves to nuclear interests, only three – soon to be four – reactors out of a one-time fleet of 54 have managed to be restarted.

And while any reactor restart in Japan is unacceptable, this meager trickle of nuclear energy winding its way into the grid is hardly the “revival” of nuclear power that the government and utilities are claiming.

At the same time, solar uptake has exploded in Japan and energy efficiency measures have significantly increased: due in part to policies passed in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima disaster under the former Prime Minister.

But mostly, this radical change in Japan’s energy mix is a testament to the leadership of Japanese citizens from all walks of life. Five years after the Fukushima disaster, the majority of the public remains opposed to nuclear energy. Also, even after mandatory energy conservation measures were lifted, the majority of the Japanese public report that they have voluntarily continued them. The largest sector of renewable growth has been in small solar installations – in other words, rooftop solar.

But the pro-nuclear utilities and their government allies are desperate not to lose their control of the energy sector, especially with the upcoming market liberalization on April 1st 2016. The Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry has been putting up major roadblocks in the path of renewable development, at the same time that the Abe government has been attempting to fast-track nuclear restarts.

We are not going to let Japan be sucked back into the energy dark ages of fossil and nuclear risks.

Greenpeace Japan, with a team of our nuclear and energy experts from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United States, is exposing the ongoing nuclear crisis around Fukushima Daiichi, with investigations and research. We are also challenging the restart of nuclear reactors by working with grassroots groups fighting the nuclear industry, political allies, and legal teams, as well as nuclear engineers and scientists from within Japan and across the globe.

And we working hard for the renewable energy future, by helping Fukushima victims install rooftop solar, creating a race to the top amongst international businesses to go 100% renewable, , and challenging the policies that could kill the renewable energy future.

The safe, sustainable, 100% renewable energy future for Japan isn’t just possible: it is happening right now. And it will continue to grow, as long as we fight for it.

With the support of people like you, in Japan and across the planet, we will win.